2050 Kids (sometimes styled 2050kids) is an environmentalist advocacy group aligned with various left-of-center organizations. It admits to demanding a “radical” shift in global environmental focus.[1]
Organizational Overview
2050 Kids focuses on the year 2050, making dire predictions based on climate change. Among other alarmist claims, the group argues “billions of people risk displacement” and “over 1/3 of all plant and animal species face extinction.”[2]
In addition to environmental activism, 2050 Kids attempts to connect climate change policy to poverty and inequality, endorsing a number of development proposals adopted by the United Nations in September 2015.[3]
Funding
The most recent available tax filings by 2050 Kids showed revenue of $101,920 and expenditures of $31,627.[4] The end-of-year fund balance for 2015 was therefore $70,293.[5]
Professional fees and other payments to independent contractors accounted for $11,842 of the organization’s expenditures.[6]
People
Founder
The founder and chairman of the board is Deborah Phelan.[7] In addition to founding 2050 Kids, she has been involved with numerous environmentalist advocacy groups, including Millenaire: The Third Millennium Education Project, FluidArts, the WiserEarth Advisory Board, CGIAR’s Global Landscape Forum, the Post Carbon Institute, the Earth Island Institute, and the Society of Environmental Journalists.[8]
Other Staff
Lizzy Leighty serves as the treasurer of 2050 Kids.[9] In addition, she works for San Francisco based Community Initiatives, which provides services to some of the Bay Area’s most left-wing organizations.[10] Sean Adams serves as secretary.[11] Gregory Serandos serves as a board member.[12]
In addition to her role as program manager for 2050 Kids, Sydney Skov has been involved in global development issues. After earning her M.A. in Sustainable International Development, she served as a Boren Fellow in Kolkata, India, where she worked for a non-profit “using dance therapy as rehabilitation.”[13] While in India, she built the Free Body Project to support organizations “using dance as a resource for social justice through film and community.”[14]
Alex Leader serves as the organization’s program associate. Prior to taking his current role, he worked with other left-leaning non-governmental organizations such as Interactive Activism, Oxfam America, the Center for Biological Diversity, and the World Affairs Council.[15]
James Greyson is an advisor to 2050 Kids and is involved with several other left-wing environmental groups. He is founder and head of BlindSpot Think Tank, a research fellow at Earth Systems Governance, and associate at MIT Climate CoLab.[16]